Tony Pulis wants West Brom to sign more players before the transfer window closes but has nothing but praise for his current squad following their 1-1 draw with Stoke.

The Baggies lost their 100 per cent start to the season after Peter Crouch cancelled out Jay Rodriguez’s opening goal at The Hawthorns, heading into the international break with seven points from a possible nine.

It was West Brom’s last game before Thursday’s transfer deadline, and Pulis has admitted he ‘needs’ to further improve a squad that picked up 1-0 wins over Bournemouth and Burnley before the draw with Stoke.

Oliver Burke became West Brom’s latest signing when his move from RB Leipzig was confirmed on Friday, following the arrivals of Jay Rodriguez, Gareth Barry and Zhang Yuning – who was immediately loaned to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen.

When asked whether new signings are on the table, Pulis said: “We need to. We know the players we want to bring in and everyone will be very disappointed if we don’t [manage to].”

Despite the desire to improve his squad, Pulis had nothing but praise for his current group of players after their excellent start to the campaign.

He was not too disappointed to share the spoils with Stoke – a team of ‘top, top players’ – and complimented the ‘attitude and application’ of his group.

“It was a tough game,” Pulis continued. “They’ve [Stoke] got some really, really top players; we wanted [Kurt] Zouma and couldn’t afford him. They’ve brought players in who are far, far above what we can afford.

“But our players are absolutely fantastic in their attitude and application. When you think [Jonny] Evans is not playing, [Nacer] Chadli is not playing… [Gareth] McAuley’s missing as well.